Plate IIISample
Candles at blue hour
Warm candlelight on the cover, cool blue window light behind it. The two colors together are what make a candlelit photograph feel candlelit, and the window does half the work.
Light
Candles for the key, a blue-hour window for the fill. The candles, three pillars in a cluster, sit 8 to 12 inches (20 to 30 cm) from the book, camera right and slightly forward of it. The window is behind the scene in the fifteen to thirty minutes after sunset, when the sky is a deep, even blue. Every lamp in the room stays off.
Bounce or flag
A palm-sized white card, propped just out of frame on the left, catches the candlelight and opens the shadow side of the cover. If the window flares into the lens, stand a black card beside the camera to shade it.
Angle
Low and almost level: the lens about two inches (5 cm) above the table, tilted up a touch. The candles read as tall, the book as substantial, and the window sits behind as a soft blue field.
On the table
Four things, counted
- Three ivory pillar candles at three heights
- A brass tray or saucer beneath them
- A dark wool throw, charcoal or espresso
- The book, standing upright
Settings
- On a phone
- Night mode, with the phone on a tripod so it can hold a three-second exposure. Pull exposure down until each flame shows a shape rather than a white blur. If night mode makes the room look like daylight, turn it off and lower exposure by a full stop.
- On a camera
- f/2 to f/2.8 · 1/60 s (1/30 s on a tripod) · ISO 1600 to 3200. White balance 4000 to 4500 K, so the candles stay gold and the window stays blue. Expose for the cover, not the flame.
Method
- Light the candles ten minutes before you shoot, so each has a pool of wax and a steady flame. Close doors and windows to stop the flicker.
- Lay the throw in soft folds and stand the book on it, angled a little toward where the candles will go.
- Group the candles on the tray, tallest at the back, and slide them until the cover is lit edge to edge without a hot spot.
- Set the camera low on the tripod and focus on the title, not the flame.
- Shoot every few minutes as the sky changes. The blue deepens quickly; the best frames usually come within ten minutes.
- Blow out the candles before you move anything.
What we used
- A sturdy tripodLink coming soon
- A 50 mm f/1.8 lensLink coming soon
- Unscented ivory pillar candles in three heightsLink coming soon
- A black foam boardLink coming soon
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